Phone scammers continue to prey on Canadians. This time, targeting newcomers and the elderly.
Alan, a new permanent resident in Regina, started receiving calls a day after he got his Koodo number.
“As soon as I got my Canadian number, the robocalls started coming in. First, they would call me. Then a few minutes later, my wife would receive the same call. It would ask me to call a number”
He knew of the scams before coming to Canada.
“I saw YouTube videos about it, but I never expected I would be a target on my first week here.”
Agnes, a work permit holder, received a call from a person pretending to be the authorities:
“I got a call from people claiming to be the police. I asked my daughter to take me to the police station to ask about it. They said they didn’t have a record of me. I got worried because my Permanent Residence application is in the works.”
The reason for the calls varies. In the past, one of the most successful scams was from people who pretended to be from the Canada Revenue Agency. When CBC’S consumer protection TV show, Marketplace, made a story about this scam, many scammers had to be more creative with the reason for the call.
Alan’s callers pretended to be from the authorities:
“One of the first calls I got said I needed to call a number of the Health Ministry. I dropped the call and blocked the number. After a week, I got another robocall, the same robotic voice but from a different number. This time the words and tone used were scary. But still, they were asking me to call the same number to contact the Health Ministry.”
Dolores, an elderly citizen living alone, got a call with a more personal touch.
“I got a call from an international number telling me my grandson was arrested in the Dubai. They were saying he needed bail money in the thousands. My grandson really did go to Dubai. He was there when they called. It worried me enough to call him on Facebook. I woke him up in the middle of the night.”
Dolores’s grandson was not in any trouble. The scammers, in this case, knew who to target. They somehow knew that a family member was out of Canada and took advantage of the opportunity.
The goal of most scammers is to either take information from the victim, gain access to their device, or make them buy gift cards. When you get calls from suspicious numbers pretending to be the authorities, the best approach is to contact the official number of the company, institution, or organization calling you. Use the number found on their website.
Other Scams in Canada
